For the first time since they were driven out of their homes by rampaging CPI(M) cadres, members of the Trinamool-backed Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee have begun regrouping, reports Rahul Das.

For the first time since they were driven out of their homes by rampaging CPI(M) cadres, members of the Trinamool-backed Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee have begun regrouping.

They have decided to “take on the CPM” as they believe the “goons hired by the CPM have left the villages”. As a first step, many BUPC members have decided to return to their villages from the relief camp near the Nandigram police station.

They have also started putting up Trinamool flags at Nandigram Bazaar and other areas as most of the CPM men fled the villages after the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad held a rally after their victory at the Nandigram College students’ union elections.

The students elected Sheikh Musharraf Hossain of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad as general secretary on Wednesday. "Soon after he was elected, a group of Trinamool supporters marched in and around Nandigram Bazaar and put up their flags,” BUPC convenor Bhabani Das said. They were soon joined by another 1,200 men who had taken shelter in a Nandigram school. This scared the local CPM leaders, who fled the area.

“The success of the All India Minority Forum demonstration in Kolkata and the results of the elections have given all of them (BUPC supporters) a boost,” a BUPC member said.

The developments have unsettled the CPM. “They are trying to set up a base from where they can attack again,” said Ashoke Bera, a local CPM leader.

Local Trinamool MLA Subhendu Adhikari said his party’s offices in Tengua, Maheshpur and Haripur, which were shut down after the violence, were reopened on Thursday. “We have decided to fight it out,” he said.

The administration is not taking any chances. “We will arrest anyone,” said Alok Raj, DIG, CRPF. But his job isn’t easy as the state government has ordered the release of all CPM supporters arrested by the CRPF.